“It is not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.” – Leo Buscaglia

In last week’s blog, I confessed to feeling rather sad and helpless lately about the seemingly-endless stream of bad news that has inundated us this year. I declared that we “need a little Christmas, right this very minute,” as the tune goes. My solution was to kick off the blog’s annual Pay It Forward Challenge for my readers early this year, so we can stir up some badly needed Holiday Spirit right NOW.

The rules of the PIF Challenge are simple: Find someone who needs a little support or comfort and do something to help them, inspire them, support them or just make them feel cared about. Your gift doesn’t have to involve much or any money. It can be in person or anonymous. It can be to a friend or a stranger. Your giving gesture may seem small to you, but it will undoubtedly put a surprised and delighted smile on their face.

Many of my coaching clients and readers have already messaged me that they are very much IN and are actively on the lookout right now for an opportunity to spread some love and cheer to someone who needs it.

The truly wonderful thing about the Law of Attraction (“energy attracts like energy”) is that it’s impossible to pay forward the many blessings you have received in your own life without attracting even MORE blessings to yourself. That’s because whatever you think, feel and do will come back to you. It may not return to you from the same person you blessed, but it WILL come to you through whatever means God/the Universe thinks best.

I recently had my own delightful experience of this PIF “gift return” phenomenon. One of my long-distance friends, Bob Perks, is a mindset coach, writer, singer and DJ. We’ve never met, but my wonderful husband Rick and I have been inspired by Bob’s positive outlook on life for years and have shared some of his personal experience stories in our blog and newsletter from time to time.

Bob’s American Legion post in Pennsylvania holds a small Veteran’s Day celebration for the veterans and their families every year. There is little budget for it, but Bob has always done his best to make it as festive as possible, sometimes putting on a musical show and always whipping up some of his homemade goodies for a modest buffet.

We hadn’t been in close contact for a few months, but as I started thinking that Veteran’s Day was right around the corner, I got a strong inner urging to text Bob and find out what the Legion was planning to do to honor these wonderful veterans and their families this year. He replied that they were having a small hometown parade and then would come back to the Legion afterward for a little potluck.

Right then, it came into my head to send him $200 toward the cost of the food and decorations. It wasn’t something I had planned on, and to tell you the truth, nearing the end of the month, it was a bit of a tight squeeze financially for me. But that was the number that came into my head, and I’ve learned better than to question “Divine Inspiration” when it hits me! I trusted that it was what I was supposed to do to Pay it Forward to these wonderful veterans and their families who have sacrificed so much to serve their country. So I hit “send” on PayPal and didn’t think much more about it.

To my surprise, there was a huge outpouring of gratitude from Bob, the post Commander, and all the vets that went far beyond what I thought my small gift deserved. Turns out, Bob’s Legion didn’t have any budget for a celebration and only three people had signed up to bring any food. My modest gift provided a long table full of delicious treats and, most importantly, made the vets and their families feel truly valued. The fact that a stranger clear across the country actually CARED was a “thank you for your service” that meant the world to them.

Bob sent me lots of pictures afterward, showing 50 or so attendees having a good time, including families whose loved ones were overseas at the moment, protecting and serving the rest of us. The background on the picture I chose to illustrate this blog was provided by Bob. Here’s what he said about the group:

“The Legion Riders are a nationally-recognized motorcycle club whose sole purpose is to support veterans’ causes. They fundraise by doing rides and holding raffles. Many are vets, but some are not. The national American Legion considers them an intricate part of serving veterans….They are my family. That is why it was a thrill beyond measure for me to bring your gift to them. You have no idea.”

Bob’s right. I had NO idea. But by following my inner wisdom and listening to that “still, small voice” that guides us, I found that my small gesture made a much bigger difference than I ever would have imagined.

And then, as the icing on the cake, my personal “gift return” came just a few days later. A handful of my clients had recently taken a “holiday hiatus” from coaching, sitting out November and December and planning to resume coaching with me in January. That’s fine, except it also means that a fair portion of my income goes away, too, just as my own family’s Holiday expenses kick in.

The unexpected “return gift” from my Pay It Forward gesture to the veterans is that an unprecedented number of NEW clients have just come into coaching to take their place and replenish my own financial well-being, right before the Holidays!

What we truly BELIEVE is not demonstrated by our words, but by our ACTIONS. By giving to the vets without fearing “will I have enough left for ME?” I was proving my faith in the Law of Attraction and the limitless abundance I believe is available to each of us. It was the perfect Win-Win: Deserving veterans and their families thousands of miles away felt the love from my PIF gesture, AND that positive energy I sent to them returned to bless my own family, too!

I look forward to hearing from YOU in the coming weeks with your own personal anecdotes of specific ways you passed along help, love and goodwill to others. I will gather these stories and publish them in a future blog to inspire even MORE people to join us and Pay it Forward this Holiday Season. Together, we can start a chain of good vibrations that will bless many, many people AND come back to bless each of us, as well!

If you or your friends would like your own free subscription to receive this blog three Sundays a month, just go to http://practicalprosperitycoach.com and click on the Prosperity Tips button at the top.

To schedule a no-obligation, F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make them a reality, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com.

“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.” – Nikos Kazantzakis

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” – Napoleon Hill

The process for manifesting anything we want in life is SO simple that we just can’t seem to believe it, so we unintentionally muck it up by interfering in the process and thus derail our own dreams. This week, I witnessed a delightful example of the good that can come to us when we resist the urge to micro-manage God/The Universe’s own perfect manifesting techniques.

But before I share the story, let’s recap the elegantly simple and efficient three-step process for manifesting your dreams via the Law of Attraction (which states that “energy attracts like energy.”)

STEP ONE: ASK for what you want. Make it specific, measurable and unambiguous. Don’t ask God/The Universe to “Make me a good leader” for your business team. How will you know when you are “good” enough? How do you measure that? Instead, ask for something specific: “I will recruit, train and support my new business partner to produce $600 OR MORE in sales in her first month in the business.”

Don’t try to figure out in advance HOW you will do this. You don’t need to know the HOW to set the process in motion for manifesting your desire. Just ASK for the outcome you want and leave the plan for the How to God/The Universe, which can direct you to the best answer more quickly and easily than you would ever be able to figure out.

These Divine directions will be picked up by the receiving dish of your subconscious mind, which will guide your conscious mind in the form of ideas, inspiration or perhaps an inner urge to be somewhere at the precise moment to bump into the perfect person or resource to help you manifest your intention.

STEP TWO: Believe it’s possible. That’s all that’s really required — and it’s the hardest step for most of us. It is your unwavering BELIEF that what you are seeking is also seeking you that sets the Law of Attraction in motion to attract the ideal opportunities to fulfill your dreams.

If you instead listen to your Ego, as we often do, you can count on it to share the many reasons it thinks you don’t have the plan, resources or time you need to succeed, and it will certainly remind you of all the times have failed at it the past.

Your subconscious mind, on the other hand, is completely open to all the wonderful new, creative ideas that are constantly being channeled to it by God/The Universe. It is completely receptive and willing to think outside the little “box” that your Ego is locked into.

Happily, YOUR only job is to rev up your belief that this mystical process really IS going on ….That something much bigger and smarter than you wants you to succeed and is working behind the scenes to make it happen.

STEP THREE: Receive. If you allow your Ego to run the show, it will assess all the “What ifs?” it can imagine and come up with a few, limited scenarios it thinks could possibly be the means and method for fulfilling your dream. It is often wrong.

The Divine How often appears in “mysterious ways,” as they say. In my 12-plus years as a professional coach, hundreds of my clients have shared jaw-dropping stories of the amazing ways God/The Universe chose to fulfill their dreams. They invariably say things like, “I never would have thought of THAT!” or “I never imagined it would have come from HER!”

That’s why I say it and you must believe it: The How is not your problem! Stay committed to your Goal, interested but unattached to your Ego’s ideas, and prepared to pounce when the Ideal Plan appears, so you can then take the appropriate ACTIONS that are required to fulfill your dream.

This week, a client shared with me the delightfully unexpected way the How happened for him: At the beginning of February, he asked me to hold him accountable for saving $300 a month toward the down payment he would need to lease a new car in November. (Specific, measurable ASK, check!)

His finances have been tight lately, and he knew it was going to be a challenge, but he was COMMITTED to his goal. Then mid-month, he discovered his current car needed $700 worth of tires. To his Ego, it looked like he would have to skip February’s $300 deposit into savings and somehow make it up in March.

But I suggested that he instead remain open and receptive to seeing HOW God/The Universe would direct him to meet his goal. I knew from experience that lots of amazing things can happen in the final hours before a goal deadline. He agreed that even if he didn’t have the entire amount, he would deposit whatever he could in savings by the end of the month, to prove that he was truly COMMITTED to his Big Goal. (BELIEVE, check!)

On February 26, I received this email from him:

“You are not going to believe this. My friend gave me six tickets to see Stevie Nicks….I am unable to attend (and not interested in going anyway)….so I decided to sell them online. The tickets are worth $150 a pair.

I thought since I got them for free, I will sell them for $100 a pair – hopefully, being a blessing to the three couples that buy them. I have all three pairs already sold…Everyone is so happy and shocked at the price I am selling them for.

Without even thinking about it, I realized that the three sets of tickets (at $100 a pair) total $300 – The exact amount of money I want to put aside each month for my car! I made my goal of putting away $300 this month. God is GREAT.”

(RECEIVE, Check!)

No, we can’t just sit on the couch, OM-ing or praying and expect whatever we want to fall through the ceiling into our lap. We must take ACTION to manifest our dreams into our material world.

But instead of just blindly following your Ego’s limited advice, first try asking God/The Universe to show you the BEST way to reach your goal. I promise, if you believe that it will come, God/The Universe WILL deliver the How to you, expedited rush delivery, via the Law of Attraction.

PLEASE NOTE: The blog will take next Sunday off. A Cup of Caroll will return on Sunday March 19.

If you would like your own free subscription to receive this blog three Sundays a month, just go to my website at http://www.practicalprosperitycoach.com and click on the Prosperity Tips button at the top.

****************** The Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ********************

I invite you to offer someone you care about a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching! It is absolutely F*R*E*E* of charge, with no obligation and no strings attached! And if YOU haven’t coached with me in awhile and would like a “tune up” session please give yourself this gift!

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make this the BEST year yet, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or call toll-free 888-503-8145.

“Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by how we react to what happens….not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life.” – Anonymous

Yesterday, my wonderful husband Rick and I spent our monthly “Big Kids’ Play Day” at the Happiest Place on Earth. The sun was shining, lovely flowers and trees were blooming, birds were chirping and Spring was in the air. My soul felt a renewed lightness in these joyful surroundings and I felt more grateful than ever that we live so close to Disneyland that we can go whenever we want to “lighten up.”

You don’t have to remind little kids to lighten up. They are all about play, fun and using their imaginations to find adventure everywhere they go. As we stood in line for the Storybook Land canal boats, Rick chatted with a small boy whose shirt was covered with buttons proclaiming that he was celebrating both his first visit to Disneyland AND his birthday. It didn’t take much coaxing for him to excitedly relate all the rides he had been on and the ones he was still looking forward to. Some of the adults in line looked tired and frazzled, but there was not one iota of resignation, worry or negative energy in that little boy.

This got me thinking about some of my clients who seem to struggle with how to lighten up. They take their Big Goals very seriously, and sometimes feel frustrated when things don’t seem to be progressing fast enough or according to their own plan.

I understand, believe me. For five years during the Great Recession and its aftermath, I had to work hard every single day to release heavy feelings of fear, worry, disappointment and frustration that my coaching practice was just barely surviving and Rick’s real estate business seemed dead in the water.

When I couldn’t see any visible progress being made, what enabled me to face each day in a positive frame of mind was my faith that God/the Universe was on my side and that if I just kept doing my BEST, the solutions would come at the right time and in the perfect way. Even when we can’t see it with our eyes, we have to keep the faith that there is progress being made behind the scenes. I kept reminding myself that the “How” is up to God/the Universe and MY job was simply to stay positive, stay alert for Divine direction, and be grateful for every good thing in my life.

Despite our shoestring budget, Rick and I made it a priority during those tough years to keep up the monthly payments on our Annual Passes and take at least one day each month to play at Disneyland and to regularly do other things that made us happy. We knew that by “lightening up” – focusing only on the positive and choosing to be happy, no matter what our circumstances were — we would attract the people and resources we needed to turn our financial situation around. Eventually, that’s just what happened. One friend’s referral led to another and another, and without warning or build-up, both my coaching practice and Rick’s real estate business took off at the same time and haven’t stopped growing since.

If they feel a sense of frustration that their dreams are not manifesting as fast as they would like, I tell my clients that they must lighten up — letting go of all heavy energy produced by worry, frustration and discouragement and revving up the light energy of joy and gratitude.

The Law of Attraction says that “energy attracts like energy.” If you are pursuing your goals with grim determination, attachment and clenched teeth, what kind of people and situations do you think you are going to attract into your life?

If you want to attract what and who you want more quickly and easily, the first step is to express sincere GRATITUDE for all the wonderful things God/the Universe has put in your life thus far. Expressing gratitude for all the good we have attracts even MORE of those things to us.

Next, you must create a genuine positive, light energy that will make you a magnet for the people and serendipitous resources that will help you reach your goals. One of my former clients recently discovered how well this approach works.

Before our coaching, she struggled with feelings of anxiety, stress and frustration about the pace at which she was building her network marketing business. She didn’t enjoy her business the way she did her day job. I encouraged her to stop pushing to try to make things happen and instead to go with the flow and allow God/the Universe to bring the “How” to her. I suggested she approach her network marketing business the same way she did her day job – with a feeling of relaxed confidence in her own skills and true joy at being of service to others.

We completed our coaching and I didn’t hear from her for a couple of months. Recently, I got this email, proving to me that she has mastered the art of reaching her goals with grace and ease:

I’m continuing to read my [Daily Success] Script two times daily and listening to The Power [by Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret.] Is this how it normally goes for your clients? That it just kind of ‘kicks in’? It feels very different this time and I’m feeling momentum in my team, too.”

Here’s one simple but powerful way you can rev up YOUR positive energy: If you aren’t currently taking at least one full day off from ALL work each week, I highly recommend you begin doing so. Taking regular breaks to engage in self-care, play and activities you enjoy with people you enjoy will actually make you MORE productive and help you reach your goals faster. It’s time to shake off the winter doldrums and lighten up!

I invite you to give a friend, colleague or loved one a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching. It is absolutely F*R*E*E* with no obligation and no strings attached! You can give this to as many people who will really appreciate it as you wish. (If you haven’t been in coaching with me for awhile, feel free to claim it for YOURSELF, too!)

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help them clarify their Big Goals and get into ACTION to make this their BEST year yet, have them email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or 888-503-8145 to schedule their session.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am writing this on Halloween, just a few hours before the doorbell will begin to ring and little Ghosts and Goblins will appear on the doorstep to scare us into handing over the chocolate.

Halloween got me thinking about the emotion of fear and how pervasive it is in our lives. One of the things the human Ego seems to be hardwired to fear most is loss. Whether it’s a personal relationship, our health, a job, or a financial loss, our first reaction is likely to be fear that we won’t ever be able to replace what we lost with something that is equally good.

(I should clarify here that I am not talking about the death of someone dear to you as being simply a “loss” to be replaced. No individual can ever be “replaced” because we are each unique and special and priceless. And while a breakup or divorce can be as traumatic as a death, we must still believe that when our grieving process is complete, we will one day experience love and joy again, perhaps with another unique and special person.)

What I have discovered over the many years I have been a student of prosperity consciousness and personal development is that our attitude about a loss has everything to do with whether it eventually opens up the space for a new blessing or becomes a slippery slope to further loss.

If you can come to accept that your loss is simply what’s so for right now, you can then turn your thoughts and emotions to focus on what you WANT to have happen next, instead of expending precious energy on useless denial. I personally find that my greatest ally in this is my faith. Like most of my clients, I believe in a Higher Power (I call it God, but you may call it the Universe or something else) that has my back and wants me to succeed. My faith (and past experience) always reminds me that a loss is not going to doom me. It’s a temporary condition. I choose to believe that something just as good or even better is on its way to me right now.

I choose to believe that God/the Universe always knows what I am going need even before I know it, so the NEW Good was already on its way to me even before my loss took place. God/the Universe is always looking for ways to match us up with others who need what we have to offer, so we can create a Win-Win together. All we have to do is let go of trying to force our own solution, and instead listen carefully for the “still small voice” that is whispering the perfect “How” in our ear, guiding us to be in the right place at the right time to receive our good that’s on its way.

I had a delightful experience of this phenomenon just this week. Well, didn’t start out as delightful. One of my favorite clients texted that she was not going to continue our coaching for the foreseeable future, due to dealing with serious personal matters that had her too distracted to focus on the Big Goal we were working on.

At first, I was really taken aback. Texting?Really? Why wouldn’t she choose to tell me this on the upcoming call we had scheduled that she had already paid for? It was hard not to take it personally. I felt like the heroine in an old television show whose boyfriend broke up with her via a Post It note stuck to her computer screen!

Still, I knew I wasn’t truly feeling upset with my client. She’s been working hard for many months and making a lot of headway pursuing her goals, and I know she didn’t make the decision to take a break from coaching lightly. I trusted that she knew what was best for her. When I examined my emotional reaction to this loss more closely, I discovered an old fear coming up for me.

Even though my practice has been nearly full for some time, around Halloween, the past still comes back to haunt me. My husband is a Realtor, and the fall and winter months tend to be quieter times for his business. For several years during the Great Recession, his real estate income was very sporadic, so my coaching income paid most of the bills. Every Holiday Season, I was terrified that all my clients would go on an extended vacation in December and we wouldn’t have a turkey on the table or any presents under the tree.

Although our reality may change, our Ego’s Old, Limiting Beliefs are hard to shake. Remembering a few challenging Holiday Seasons from the past was enough to set my fearful Ego off because it is still looking for ANY sign that we could once again be financially insecure. Thankfully, I recognized the Old Limiting Belief resurfacing and reminded my fearful Ego that Rick and I are both prospering in our careers, have plenty of savings in the bank, and our past is not in our future.

One of my favorite tools to help my Ego relax so I can listen for God’s “How” is the affirmation: “I hereby give up my Old, Limiting Belief that there is never enough and life is a constant struggle. My New, Empowering Belief is that I am prosperous, with never-ending abundance to spare and to share!”I repeated this aloud and went on with my day.

Just two hours later, I had a free coaching session with someone I had never met who was referred to me by a colleague. Our session had originally been scheduled for a few weeks ago, but she had to cancel at the last minute due to a family emergency and we rescheduled for the same afternoon that I received the “Dear Jane” text from my client.

Our free session went great. There was comfortable rapport and immediate trust between us, and I was delighted to learn she embraces the Law of Attraction and many of the tools I use to help my clients turbo-charge their results. Without hesitation, she was ready to sign up for coaching.

When I gave her a choice among my few remaining timeslots, she chose the one that my former client had graciously made available that very day. Thus, what had looked like a loss just a couple of hours earlier was transformed into a Win-Win-Win for my new client, my former client and me.

And once again, I was reminded that if we can have faith, calm our Ego’s fear of loss, and expect something GOOD to take its place, it will!

****************** The Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ********************

I invite you to offer someone you care about a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching! It is absolutely F*R*E*E* of charge, with no obligation and no strings attached! And if YOU haven’t coached with me in awhile and would like a “tune up” session please give yourself this gift!

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make this the BEST year yet, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or call toll-free 888-503-8145.

I was planning to take a breather from writing the blog this Holiday weekend, but I decided instead to re-post the blog from last Fourth of July, in order to remind you of the deeper meaning of what it means to beof service.

“There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” – John Andrew Holmes

Happy Fourth of Julyweekend! As we celebrate this most patriotic of all American holidays, we are reminded that “Freedom isn’t free” — and neither are happiness, abundance and personal fulfillment.

I recently read a wonderful book by Felicia Blanco Searcy called Do Greater Things: Following in Jesus’ Footsteps. One chapter that particularly stood out for me was about what Jesus taught about being of service. We often think that “service” to others is given primarily by those who risk their lives or make extraordinary personal sacrifices for their fellow man, such as those in the armed forces, law enforcement, medicine and public service do.

In reality, as Felicia’s book points out, service is something that ALL of us can and should participate in. In return, we will be rewarded with more happiness, abundance and fulfillment in our lives. If we look around, we see everyday heroes among us, in every walk of life, who use their time, treasure and talents to improve the lives of others in countless ways, large and small.

A You Tube video was recently posted by a bystander who witnessed a spontaneous act of service in the checkout line at Wal Mart. A young mother with children in tow was trying to pay for four packages of diapers, believing they were on sale. When the checker informed her that only the first package was on sale and the other three were full price, the mother was crestfallen and embarrassed because she didn’t have enough money to pay the full tab.

That’s when an older woman in line stepped forward, put one hand on the mother’s shoulder and used the other to swipe a credit card and pay for her entire purchase. The young mother was flabbergasted. The older woman just smiled and said, “Someday, I know you will pay it forward to someone else.”

When a reporter tracked her down later to tell her that the cell phone video of her good deed has been viewed by millions, the Good Samaritan said she didn’t know what “going viral” meant, but she was glad that others knew about it, because she hoped it would inspire them to perform their own spontaneous acts of kindness.

As Felicia’s book states, “We serve best when we are involved with something that uses our gifts. Anytime we give from our passion, we give wholeheartedly and joyfully. Our enthusiasm is infections and people often join in because of our influence…

Service challenges us once again to look at our attitude toward receiving. Instead of teaching us to sacrifice, service teaches us how to accept gifts. That may sound like a contradiction. But when we give for the pleasure of giving, we see how others get the same pleasure from sharing. We let them give to us because we know that it brings them joy, since that is our experience, too….God gives to us through other people.

We also have a tendency to judge some acts as worthy service and other as less honorable. In truth, all service is notable. We all have the ability to contribute to the well-being of our planet, and no job is holier than another.

However insignificant we may feel our own contribution is, we should always remember that our good works are vital to the well-being of the whole. Without our efforts, someone would suffer.”

This Independence Day weekend, as we celebrate our precious freedoms and abundant way of life, let’s recognize that service is not performed just by our wonderful men and women in uniform, public servants and those who labor in the helping professions. Being of service is is a precious gift that all of us can and should make our personal mission every day.

****************** The Gift of Dreams Fulfilled! ********************

I invite you to offer someone you care about a truly unique gift that can change their life — ONE HOUR of Personal Success Coaching! It is absolutely F*R*E*E* of charge, with no obligation and no strings attached! And if YOU haven’t coached with me in awhile and would like a “tune up” session please give yourself this gift!

To schedule a F*R*E*E* HOUR of phone coaching that will help clarify your Big Goals and get you into ACTION to make this the BEST year yet, please email me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or call toll-free 888-503-8145.

“Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.” – Jim Rohn

Thank you to all who sent me your birthday greetings and good wishes! Something that really stood out for me about this one is that throughout the extended celebration that my husband and dear friends created for me, I felt totally relaxed and fully present to every enjoyable minute.

I didn’t sweat the crowds at Disneyland nor worry about the time or my bank balance. I let go of pushing for anything to happen at a certain time in a certain way and just allowed God/the Universe to bring me great experiences and happy memories. Despite the crowds, we got on our favorite rides with fairly short waits and the time seemed to pass more slowly than usual, extending the pleasure I was feeling.

Wonderful surprises happened too: A couple we didn’t know at the next table saw my Disney birthday button and spontaneously bought our expensive wine flytes. After dinner, we stopped to listen to Alturas, our favorite street band at Downtown Disney. Band leader Raul spotted my birthday button and had the entire crowd sing Happy Birthday to me, followed by enthusiastic applause. I felt like Queen for A Day!

I didn’t DO anything to make all the wonderful things happen. I just went through the day with relaxed, receptive, grateful and welcoming energy that effortlessly attracted so many good things to me.

Long-time friends and family know that I am by nature a worrier and a control freak. I have spent the past two decades working on being more patient and “Letting Go and Letting God” be in charge of my life. I still backslide occasionally (just ask my husband), but I am much less tightly-wound, stressed-out and fearful than I used to be. And I am sure I am much more pleasant for others to be around!

I have learned that when I feel stressed or pressured, the best way to regain my composure and ability to think clearly is to take a few moments to get quiet, take a walk, or simply close my eyes, sit still and pray or read something positive. Very soon, my subconscious mind relaxes enough to receive the Divine inspiration needed to guide me to the perfect solution for whatever problem I’m facing.

I want to share with you this recent quote from the Daily Word, a little book of daily inspirations put out by the Unity church. It summarizes the essence of what I have learned about the value of patience (and I know I still have a LOT to learn) in my 61 years on planet earth so far:

“Patience is an act of confidence that all is unfolding as it should – even when the process takes longer than I had hoped or expected.

Patience is not laziness or indifference. I don’t have to push or force a result in order to feel as if I am making progress. But just as a farmer cannot hurry or worry a harvest into existence, I cannot rush results that must unfold in their own time.

True patience is a silent energy, one that restores and strengthens. I deny power to any feelings of doubt or impatience, and while I wait, I pray. I stay focused on the present moment, comforted by a quiet faith, and patiently expecting the greater good to come.

May you be made strong…and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience. — Colossians 1:11″

If you are feeling stressed about your life circumstances, pressured by others or impatient for something you want to happen faster, here’s the simple remedy: RELAX. To do so demonstrates your belief that what you want WILL come to you from the collaboration of God/The Universe and your own inner wisdom – at the perfect time, and in the perfect way. Your job is simply to ALLOW it.

Pushing and pressuring others to do what we want when we want it naturally causes them to RESIST. So if your employee, partner, spouse, sibling or child isn’t doing what you need them to do, you must first relax and stop focusing pressuring energy at them.

Then, as the I Ching taught me, you must seek to understand what they want and how they see the situation. With non-resistant energy and understanding, you can find a way to collaborate with them to create a mutual Win-Win. Believe it or not, children really DO want to help their parents and to be acknowledged for it in return. You just have to enroll them in what’s in it for THEM, as well as for you. Adopting a relaxed, supportive, collaborative approach is far more effective than trying to force a human Ego to see what is its best interest.

One of my clients told me this week that she was richly rewarded for letting go, relaxing and allowing. After a hectic end to the school year, she was feeling exhausted, but had to embark immediately on a week-long driving vacation with her whole family. Instead of her usual M.O. of taking control of planning the entire trip and doing all the prep herself, she decided to relax and let other family members take much of the responsibility for getting there. She even allowed other family members to drive, which she never does. By the time they arrived at their destination, my client was rested, relaxed and ready for fun. “It was like a dream,” she said. “I never could have imagined a trip like that could be so fun and easy!”

So this summer, won’t you join me in taking a vacation from worrying, stressing, and forcing outcomes? Instead, let’s practice sending patient, relaxed, welcoming energy out into the world. Then we can experience fun,freedom and gratitude when the perfect people and resources seem to appear effortlessly to help us fulfill our Big Dreams!

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What do you want for your life? My “job description” as a coach is simply this: I help you get what YOU want. I invite you to schedule a complimentary phone consultation where together we’ll explore your big dreams and determine if coaching can assist you in reaching them. I have programs and coaching specialties for every need. Learn more at: http://practicalprosperitycoach.com or contact me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or toll free at 888-503-8145.Contact me TODAY to schedule a complimentary phone consultation!

The smallest change in perspective can transform a life. What tiny attitude adjustment might turn your world around? – Oprah Winfrey

I was blessed to be invited by a friend to an amazing event this past week. It was a three-hour Q & A, give-and-take conversation on stage at the Anaheim Convention Center between two of the greatest Master Manifesters on the planet, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Esther Hicks.

Dr. Dyer has been teaching people to change their lives and manifest their dreams for decades via his more than 30 books, PBS specials and in-person lectures. His newest book (but not for long) is Wishes Fulfilled. I highly recommend it if you want to learn some practical tips for making your dreams come true with maximum speed and ease.

Esther Hicks, with her late husband Jerry, likewise has been teaching people how to manifest whatever they want for a long time. In fact, they were instrumental in the creation of the original DVD of The Secret, and claim credit for giving the title “Law of Attraction” to the principle that asserts “energy attracts like energy.” By this law, if you match your personal energetic vibration to what you want, it will be attracted to you. The flip side, of course, is that if your vibration is negative, you will attract to you people, things and circumstances that align with negative energy.

Esther claims to be able to channel a group energy that calls itself “Abraham.” She allows Abraham to use her voice to teach us how to live life the way it was meant to be lived by humans – with love and ease. One of my favorite books based on the “teachings of Abraham” is Ask and It is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires. This is a clear, simple step-by-step tool for learning to control your thoughts and feelings so you can align your energy with what you want to manifest into the material world. At the very least, following their teachings will make you FEEL calm, centered and joyful!

During the event, Dr. Dyer sat across from Esther Hicks and asked her questions, while Abraham spoke through her to answer his questions. He asked some great questions, and through Abraham’s unscripted answers, I realized a deeper understanding of just how we unknowingly sabotage what we want to attract to us – a great job, more money, a loving relationship, time freedom, adventure, etc. – simply by resisting it. According to Abraham, Source Energy (AKA God or the Universe) has what we want ready to manifest into the physical world the minute we “ask.” The way Sources “reads” what we are asking for is through our consistent THOUGHTS and FEELINGS about it.

I now get just how key FEELINGS are. Your feelings must match the vibration of what you WANT in order for you to be able to see it, experience it and have it in the material world we live in.

Yet, as willing as Source is to deliver it, we consistently resist allowing it to come to us. We do this, Abraham says, by focusing on our perceived problem instead of the solution to it. When your thoughts go back again and to being in debt and feeling how much you dislike it, you are unintentionally attracting more debt to you with your “debt energy.” When you think and feel again and again of how lonely you are, you are creating more opportunities to be alone. When you think of how much you hate going to your dead-end job every day, you are creating more opportunities for feeling unfulfilled and frustrated at work.

What you must do instead is to think about how great it will be when you are debt-FREE or in LOVE or working at a career that excites and fulfills you. And then – and this is crucial – you must let your imagination vividly conjure more and more positive, happy details about what you desire, which will and allow you to FEEL in advance what it will be like for you when it becomes real. But you must FEEL it right nowas though it IS real. You can’t say, “When I see it, then I will believe it.” Instead, as Wayne Dyer says, “When you believe it, then you will see it.”

This isn’t news, of course. For the past two decades, I’ve used many of the energy-management tools and techniques shared by these two Master Manifesters to help myself and others learn to harnass the power of the human imagination to FEEL those good vibrations that will overcome our resistance and allow our dreams to manifest.

But something about the sharp, clear way that Abraham/Esther explained in person how Source sees us as whole, complete and perfect with NOTHING missing from our lives really sank into my consciousness at a whole new level. I came away from the Wednesday event feeling light, happy and completely confident that EVERYTHING I needed to thrive was available to me right this minute. I let go of all worry and fear and went to sleep that night feeling a deep sense of joyous peace.

The next morning, I turned on my computer to check my bank balance, as I had been doing daily all week. I was closely monitoring the hoped-for arrival of a large coaching fee that would cover some expenses that needed to be paid by Saturday. When I charge a client’s credit card, it generally takes five business days to be deposited into my checking account. Maybe 10% of the time, I somehow get lucky and it shows up on day four. But by and large, I don’t count on seeing the money until day five.

Since I had charged the client’s card the prior Friday night and Monday was a banking holiday, I knew it was a toss-up whether the funds would be deposited in four working days (on Friday) or five (on Monday). Throughout the week, every time I found myself feeling anxious about the arrival of the money, I did my best to re-direct my thoughts and re-focus my energy to pure GRATITUDE for the funds being available just when I needed them. I have to admit, though, that some doubt and worry kept creeping back into my consciousness. As Abraham would say, instead of simplytrusting and allowing my good to come to me easily, I was resisting and causing myself useless anxiety.

After the blissful Wednesday evening with Dr. Dyer and Abraham, I felt completely calm, grateful and happy when I opened my online bank statement. To my amazement, the money was already there – on Thursday morning! It has NEVER before happened that a credit card payment came to me in THREE banking days. I have to credit Wayne and Esther and Abraham for that. As soon as I relaxed, trusted and allowed it, voila — Wish fulfilled!

You can learn more about how to raise your own vibration and get what you want directly from these Master Manifesters, as I have. Check out the work of Dr. Wayne Dyer at www.DrWayneDyer.com and the teachings of Abraham Hicks at www.abraham-hicks.com

******** What do you want for your life? My “job description” as a coach is simply this: I help you get what YOU want. I invite you to schedule a complimentary phone consultation where together we’ll explore your big dreams and determine if coaching can assist you in reaching them. I have programs and coaching specialties for every need. Learn more at: http://practicalprosperitycoach.com or contact me at caroll@practicalprosperitycoach.com or toll free at 888-503-8145.Contact me TODAY to schedule a complimentary phone consultation! *************